International comparisons of private sector training.

• Position: Conferences

The NBER and the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, jointly sponsored a conference on "International Comparisons of Private Sector Training" in London on December 16 and 17. The program, organized by NBER Faculty Research Fellow Lisa M. Lynch of MIT, was:

John Bishop, Cornell University, "The Impact of

Previous Training in Schools and on Jobs on

Productivity, Required OJT, and Turnover of New Hires"

Discussant: Anders Bjorklund, Swedish Institute for

Social Research

Andrew M. Weiss, Boston University, "Productivity

Changes Without Formal Training"

Discussant: Alison Booth, Birkbeck College

Stephen V. Cameron, University of Chicago, and

James J. Heckman, NBER and University of

Chicago, "The Determinants and Outcomes of Post-Secondary

Training: A Comparison of High School

Graduates, Dropouts, and High School Equivalents"

Discussant: Stephen J. Nickell, Oxford University

David G. Blanchflower, NBER and Dartmouth

College, and Lisa M. Lynch, "Training at Work: A

Comparison of U.S. and British Youths"

Discussant: Peter Elias, Warwick University

Peter Dolton, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne;

Gerald Makepeace, University of Hull; and John

Treble, University of Essex, "Vocational Training

in the Early Careers of British School Leavers"

Discussant: Wim Groot, Leiden University

David Soskice, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fur

Sozialforschung, "The German Training System:

Reconciling Markets and Institutions"

Discussant: Hilary Steedman, National Institute of

Economic and Social Research

Peter Berg, University of Notre Dame, "Strategic

Adjustments in Training: A Comparative Analysis of

the U.S. and German Automobile Industries"

Discussant: Richard Disney, University of Kent

Masanori Hashimoto, Ohio State University,

"Employment-Based Training in Japanese Firms in

Japan and in the United States"

Discussant: Mari Sako, London School of Economics

Using two U.S. employer surveys, Bishop identifies the impact of employer-provided training on the productivity and labor turnover of new hires. He finds higher productivity and lower training costs among employees trained in private vocational/technical rather than similar public institutions. Specifically, these new hires on average have a 22 percent higher overall productivity, net of training costs, during their first three months of employment.

Weiss examines the productivity changes associated with informal training. Using unique and detailed information on four groups of...